1. Field of the Disclosure
The following application is directed to radiation-detecting devices, and more particularly radiation-detecting devices incorporating charge storage structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radiation-detecting devices can be used to detect certain types of radiation, however, some may be particularly expensive and cumbersome. For example, conventional neutron detectors generally include a container including a neutron sensitive gas, such as 3He or BF3, and an electrically charged wire having leads which extend outside of the container. In operation, incident neutrons react with the gas to produce charged particles which change the electrical potential of the wire. A measurement system coupled to the charged wire measures the electrical pulses and uses this information to indicate the presence of neutrons. Such systems can be inaccurate and are prone to failure. These types of detectors are undesirably bulky and are associated with poor sensitivity resulting from, for example, electronic noise.
Other radiation detecting devices use crystals, such as scintillator materials, that radiate a particular wavelength of light when radiation interacts with the crystal or even store a particular amount of charge when radiation interacts with the crystal. The light or amount of charge stored by the crystal can be used to determine the radiation that was present. However, such systems are fragile given the use of crystalline material, can require advanced signal processing units, and can be quite inaccurate and slow.